The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will continue to put their faith in a young crop of shuttlers to represent the country at next year’s Thomas Cup.
National coaching director Wong Choong Hann also said the national body would look to place a more competitive target for the team, with the backing of the shuttlers' performance analytics.
Malaysia crashed out of this year’s edition after a 3-0 loss to finalists Indonesia, after Lee Zii Jia, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Ng Tze Yong all lost their matches on Friday.
“The players tried their best, but it wasn’t good enough. We must acknowledge that Indonesia were strong, but we have seen the weaknesses in our players to be rectified.
“After this, we will work comprehensively with their coaches to get sufficient data to deal with this. We will be ready for the next edition and will look to set a more competitive target ahead of the tournament.
“We should be seeing sufficient improvement be it from the singles or doubles department. The increase in level of competitiveness is what we are looking to see,” said Wong, adding that Lee Zii Jia and Chia-Soh would continue to lead the country in mixed team events.
Lee lost two of his three matches against Kento Momota and Anthony Ginting, while Chia-Soh also lost their duels against Japan and Indonesia.
“We definitely have big hopes for them, they are the next kids on the block. We will continue to work on their game and get them to the desired level.”
Wong nonetheless left the door open for junior shuttlers to be part of big team events if their attitude and desire were worthy of selection.
At the Thomas Cup, Lee led the team with an average age of 23 as the BAM opted for youth over experience, leaving out the likes of Liew Daren and Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong.
Following the early exit, Lee and Chia-Soh would continue to remain in Europe to contest at the Denmark Open (October 19-24) and French Open (October 26-21).
